The Lost Outpost
by reven29
Summary: A single commander humanities last hope is sent with an experimental ACU to close the Seriphiem Arch and save humanity from the infinate war but as the saying goes No plan survives first contact and now as The Seriphiem war ends another begins will the young Commander be able to lead his forces to victory aginst this new foe (slight refrence to war based violence reason M rating)
1. Fall of the Phoenix

Title: **The Lost Outpost**  
Category: Games » Halo  
Author: reven29  
Language: English, Rating: Rated: M  
Genre: General  
Published: 09-22-15, Updated: 08-13-16  
Chapters: 4, Words: 12,953

 **Chapter 1: Fall of the Phoenix In Flight**

 **The Last Outpost**

 **Disclaimer I own nothing except the ideas which brought my stories to life out of these great games**

 **Please read this if you have never played Supcom before**

 **Supreme Commander X Halo crossover (yay fist time crossing galaxies and warping time woot) any way for anyone who is a Halo fan boy as much as I love halo myself Supcom cannon is OP in comparison a single Fatboy Experimental Mobile Factory from Supcom 1 could take on all the U.N.S.C. and Covenant land forces combined in combat as not only is it massive but it has a shield its self repairs and it can build an army of units in what would be hours in real time but minutes in game time (it is due to a process called Nano-Lathing which involves taking energy turning it into mass and then wielding it together on a molecular level)(P.S. I am working on contacting a guy to get more specific details as I can't really understand how it works myself but I believe I know someone who can give me some exact details for this)(P.P.S this is why most experimental other then the Paragon Mavor and the Novax center will not show up till late war if at all) now then onto the story and I may end up posting a chapter in front of this later that will have a list of units and such size, weight, damage, mass and all that to help others see why I am massively nerfing Supcom just so the covvies can fight them with less than orbital glassing to fight a war on land**

 **Location: Earth**

 **Hawaii**

 **Time is 18:20 (6:20 for anyone who doesn't know military time subtract 12if it is over twelve and that is your time)**

 **Operation Overlord +5 hours after op start**

Hi I am Reven I am a Cybran commander that was give access to an Experimental A.C.U. (armored command unit) that had access to both the Aeon, Cybran and U.E.F. (United Earth Federation) build plans to attack the Seriphem Rift Gate that was built on the remains of the old Black Sun Complex in Hawaii after the invasion and destruction of Earth it has been a long and bloody war but now the final act has begun and my final attack that I will be leading personally is about to begin and I am making this recording and leaving it in the Command Node I built in the base in case I do not return

Inside the ACU onboard a Continental Class Tech 3 transport along with several Titan and Loyalist Assault Bots being escorted to their targets by several Gemini Tech 3 A.S.F. (air superiority fighters) and Broadsword tech 3 gunships flying in a defensive pattern with the ASFs in an arrow formation up front with the transport in the middle and the gunships on the flanks to ensure that the transports would survive any incoming hostile fighters while the transports shield soaked up any flak coming from the ground defenses they were flying over. I am watching the camera feed of the 12 transport formations pass over the advancing Fatboys and Galactic Colossus formations that are advancing on the main bases defenses while me and a small strike force land and attack the Rift Gateway I look down at my interface and give my ground forces an attack move order while checking our flight path and to see if the 4 Liberator Strategic Nuclear Missile Launches had all their missiles primed to fire should I hit the launch button incase I fail to destroy the Gateway " _no I should not think like that I took down the best the Order and Seriphem could throw at me I will make it through this"_ so I tell the transports to proceed and all 12 transports and the escorts moved in to drop us off safely as the dumb A.I. that piloted the war machines acknowledges the order ( **A.N. I forgot to mention earlier to those that don't know all Supcoms tanks ships bases and planes are controlled by dumb A.I. and the only human ever actually deployed to a war zone is inside an ACU or a Subterranean Armored Command Bunker which lead to more efficient wars with less population loss as the infinite war lasted for at least a thousand years and only came to an end during the events of Black Sun and a day after the end of that the Seriphem opened a Quantum Rift and invaded earth and then started a war of extermination until the events of Fort Clarke where the war finally turned around)** we quickly arrive at the D.Z. and the air transports begin firing their AA and Riot guns at any units nearby as the fighters break and engage fighter swarms all around us and the gunships focus on the units coming out of the gate to keep us from being overwhelmed by the sheer number of Seriphem units pouring out of the gate as my ACU and Loyalists disembark from the transport by way of it releasing its magnetic clamps and allowing us to drop the remaining thirty feet and begin to attack the Gateway I look and quickly see that I have lost 2 transports full of Loyalists and Titans before they could disembark to the heavy flak fire and hostile fighters and to see that almost all the ASFs have been shot down in massive dogfights that made where made up of dozens of fighters each and watched as several fell from the sky around me. I also take note that half the gunships and transports that where providing ground support for me had also taken several loses and that my land assault is being ground to a halt by the base defenses that are at the front of the base and hundreds of hostile forces. which is bad as I really needed those units to get through should my sneak attack fail and then right as the gate starts to weaken two Youthotha Experimental Assault Bots came through the portal and the I decided my forces here where insufficient for the attack and the ground force would not make it through and all the air transports where down so there was no evac to the safety of my insanely fortified base so I do the only thing I can thank of I look to my left and see the interface where I type in _Lima Alpha Utah November Charlie Huston LC04-5 CD05 N -137 by W-207_ and then hit the button in the glass case that flipped open and hear the dreaded words _**STRATEGIC LAUNCH CODES DETECTED LUANCHER COUNT 4 MISSILE SILOS PAYLOAD TO LAUNCH IS FIVE MISSLES PER SILO AT CORDINATES SET ABOVE. WARNING YOU ARE IN THE BLAST ZONE ARE YOU SURE YOU WISH TO PROCEED**_ and with one final exhale I hit the confirm button and I immediately focus my fire on the Seraphim Ythisioz strategic missile defenses structures to either side of the gate right as my ACU finally comes under fire from the Youthotha I destroy the last one. As I sat there and watched as my shield flared for a few seconds as I continue to fire at the gateways defenses and am thankful now that I had the Titans destroy some of the bases infrastructure. Finally my shields flare for the last time before popping and all I can think is _I will see you soon my love_ just as the world gains 4 new suns seconds apart from each other with me at the center and then everything went black .

 **(All Cybrans brains are intertwined with an A.I.. so all Cybrans can interface with Tech on a digital level)**

 _ **Time +9 hours from unexpected shutdown**_

 _ **ACU emergency automatic reboot sequence begin**_

 _ **Command accepted**_

 _ **ACU pilot registers unconscious**_

 _ **Emergency command override: wake up protocol begun**_

 _ **Command accepted administering wake up cocktail and slight shock to wake pilot**_

 _ **Operation success pilot awakening now**_

 _ **ACU Pilot Reven command code accepted welcome sir**_

 _ **ACU Pilot Reven: access ACU diagnostic and repair terminal**_

 _ **ACU A.I.: ACU suffered heavy damage during explosion and shut down**_

 _ **Shield generator destroyed**_

 _ **Resource Allocation System intact**_

 _ **Tech 3 engineering suite crippled beyond repair has now been downgraded to standard tech 1 suite but with access to needed mass and energy could be reactivated and repaired**_

 _ **ACU torso, legs, arms and head have been repaired of major damage during +9 hour shutdown with on board repair protocol and all systems operational**_

 _ **ERROR schematic data base damaged some entries missing**_

 _ **Warning suit is now floating in geosynchronous orbit of unknown planet where most of the surface has been turned to glass and all water has been removed from the surface by intense heat scaring suggests the planet was targeted by plasma based weaponry**_

 _ **Notice ACU is in stable condition to re-enter orbit with use of built in thrusters and hunker module**_

 _ **Diagnostic end**_

 _ **ACU Pilot Reven: begin re-entry**_

+00:30 minutes from ACU reactivation

If anyone on the planet where alive and they looked up they would have thought an asteroid was about to strike the desolate planet as a massive fire ball streaks towards the surface

+01:00 Hour(s) from ACU reactivation

A massive impact shakes the surface of the planet as the fire ball impacts the planet itself and leaves a huge crater

+02:45 Hour(s) from ACU reactivation

Massive buildings begin to dot the horizon nestled into a cliff side as a huge walker is seen moving amongst the buildings. as mass extracts are built in the cliff face and begin to pull solid mass out of the ground and store it in massive quantum storage structures near them to be used by factories that could be seen making tanks and building machines. The ACU began the creation of new units and structures and the humming of massive power generators generating power and sending it to power storage to charge the defense cannons that where being built by smaller wheeled car looking vehicles that could be identified as **Cybran tier 1 &2 Engineers** and structures that were pumping out tanks and planes as well as the ACU and engineers Nano-Lathe beams that where constructing even better buildings and walls

+04:30 Hour(s) from ACU reactivation

Even larger structures begin to dot the landscape as walls span the perimeter of the base complex and shield generators create massive bubbles of pure energy to shield what's inside ( **this is a Cybran tech 2 shield that has been upgraded to mark 5** ) and large cannon emplacements ( **these are UEF Triad tech 2 point defenses** ) are set up at the entrances of the base and massive rocket towers are built inside the walls perimeter to protect against planes attacking ( **these are the UEF tech 3 Flayer SAM sites** ) and tanks that look like large versions of the Scorpion MBT ( **UEF MA12 Striker tech 1 medium tank** ) form columns at certain points inside the walled perimeter to await deployment along with small spider-bots ( **Cybran tech 1 Mantis assault bots** ) as pristine white hover craft with long guns pointed to the sky ( **Aeon Fervor tech 1 light artillery)** settle into another sector of the waiting area and massive long range artillery cannons ( **Cybran tech 2 Gunther light artillery emplacement)** are set at key points along the walls and cliffs aimed towards the skies awaiting something to pass into its firing range to engage. Missile silos ( **this is the Cybran TML-4 missile silo)** churn out tactical missiles to be fired at long ranges at structures and slow moving objects or ships while massive clouds of fighter/bombers fly about on patrols outside the walls and long range recon planes fly at max range to give sight to the command map and those that need it stop to refuel ( **two types of planes here both Cybran the tech 3 spy plane called the Spook and the tech 2 fighter/bomber the Corsair)**

 _ **Massive times skip here but nothing else gets added except experimental buildings**_

 **+36:00 hours (for the record this is not military time just hours since the ACU came online)**

Now massive structures so large there barrels stick into the sky dot the base built into the cliff while 2 massive white structures are built in the middle of the most heavily defended points on opposite sides of the base ( **the UEF Mavor experimental artillery which is the literal definition of reach out and touch someone as it can precisely hit a target halfway around the planet with enough calculations and the Aeon Paragon Experimental Resource Generator which once built can create renewable energy that it can take and turn into mass as well)** and a large launch platform looking area that is in the middle of launching a pod into orbit which is a spy satellite and a massive laser weapon that has a long charge time ( **this is the UEF Novax Center which is capable of building and launching a pod every so often)**

+2 Day(s) from ACU reactivation (POV Switch)

The Innocence Lost is a covenant corvette slick fast and really hard to detect at long range commanded by Des'Letra comes out of slip space to scan the planet as the Hierarchs decreed for all planets that have been glassed in there glorious war against the humans this planet was the first to be taken from those human savages and one of the most hard fought for by the humans but they were finally driven off after the glassing and now he had the lowly job of scanning these planets instead of participating in glorious battle against them suddenly one of the elites overseeing the scans stated "Shipmaster we have a large number of contacts on the surface in a large cluster if I had to guess I would say it was a base of the humans built but to only have ground side defenses is unlike them and I see no signs of fleet activity I would recommend caution though as some of these contacts are massive in size and scale not something that could have been assembled in a short time ."

I reply "I agree comms get me a line to the Hierarchs in the mean time sound the battle call and muster all troops to ready status."

"Yes Shipmaster." Stated the ships second in command

"Sir we have a comms line to the Hierarch's chamber I forwarded the relevant scan data and you have an audience with Truth, Mercy and Regret, themselves." Stated the Comms officer

"Well that was fast I wonder what they have to say about this situation put me through to them on the holo terminal and silence on the bridge." I stated

Truth then spoke "Fleet Master how nice to see you we have seen you scans and have decide it was indeed suspicious that such large structures where built on that planet since our last scan 7 galactic days ago so I sent orders for two assault carriers and their Shipmaster to rendezvous with you in orbit and for you to take control of one of the ships. One whose shipmaster has recently had a promotion just as you have and once they arrive your corvette is to move in to position to glass the area if troops cannot breach the area in the first wave my you bring death on the primitives you are dismissed to carry out your orders."

"Yes Noble Hierarchs I will do as you order" I stated

"Congratulation on the promotion Fleet Master may I request to take over as your XO on the carrier Fleet Master?" asked the Current XO

"I am sorry old friend but this ship will need a new Shipmaster after my departure I am promoting you to that spot your current orders are to land troops out side of the base and try and communicate if it is human give it the usual message and kill if not then see if we can get them to join our glorious Covenant if your troops should somehow fail to these primitives then move the corvette into position over the base and glass the area and then return to orbit." I stated

"Yes Fleet Master it will be done in the name of the Covenant your new ship should be here within a few hours I wish you well on you new ship and I hope your crew will serve with distinction Fleet Master."

 **Any ways for anyone who stayed and read this I wanted to say thanks hope you enjoyed the first chapter of many and I know I have been gone for a while and I am back and I have some new story ideas whichever one is the most popular after a week's time I will make my main story that will get the most updates and the rest will be like side stories and maybe I can end up finding a way to tie all my stories together like one of my favorite authors RebukeX7 and his friend Jorn117 (who do a life is a game series check it out it's a good group of stories) I also want to give rebuke credit for finally getting me into writing these stories as well as AlwaysBetOnVoid who got me into writing my Warhammer story.**


	2. Reborn in the Ashes of War

**Chapter 2: The March of Death**

 **Alright everyone I am back and better than ever for writing I had a very nice reviewer named (** 818carlos **) help me do some serious digging in the lore are and have found some neat stuff for instance the tier 2 U.E.F. pillar tank its main gun can literally fire a 152MM out of its guns because its shells are HV-AP/HE round feed through a gauss cannon system as well as a UEF tech 1 Mech Marine's Tomcat Machine Gun fire a 70 MM rapid fire HE round and the Gunther tech 2 Cybran artillery fires a 120 MM EMP round the TML-4 Cybran tactical missile launcher has a prototype cycling system which is what allows it to refire incredibly fast but enough about the tech and such all I have to say is that sup com has been nerfed to allow for an actual fight here (speaking of which this will be my first actual battle field war to describe so please bear with me and I will try and make transitions smooth and distinguished**

PLANET HARVEST

+3 DAYS AFTER ACU DEPLOYMENT

 _Cybran A.I. Implant Codename: Gideon serial number: Gamma 13-745/2_

 _Urgent Notice Long range scanners have detected space borne objects enter geosynchronous orbit above planet several alerts and power spikes detected Alert power diverted to weapons ship deploying (Error 404 Entry not found in data banks) to surface of planet and are deploying troops_

 _Assessment alert Supreme Commander Reven ASAP of looming threat of unknown hostiles_

 _ACU AI: "Alert commander incoming hostiles detected of unknown origin several messages have been sent in unknown language as well as power spikes believed to be weapons systems and shuttle deployments have been launched Flayer SAMs and Corsair Fighter/bomber groups have been readied to engage any threats that attempt to land near the base Mavors are loading but not cycling to fire and have their barrels collapsed still for max protection (this is because a Mavors barrel extends past the shield bubbles and can be struck buy bombers occasionally) and all units are awaiting further orders"._

 _ACU Pilot Reven: "Confirmed prep all TML-4 sites to lock onto and fire at any large ships that break orbit and enter the atmosphere while the Gunthers hit the nearest drop zones to the base then have the Quantum Hangers (used in the air craft carriers to store large number of planes in basically a pocket dimension) release all available Corsair class fighter/bombers launch and engage all targets of opportunity then send out some Mantis assault bots to engage any forces to test their fire power and if they engage an opponent that they can't take head on deploy the Pillars Tanks to that area and regulate Mantis units as support and repair duty so that we can maintain strength on the front and not strain our factories trying to replace our units and get me a comm line to those ships but I want you to do the talking till we know what we are dealing with I will tell you what to say though."_

 _ACU A.I.: "confirmed beginning deployment now."_

 _ACU Pilot Reven: "Hey Gideon do we have any nukes built in the silos yet."_

 _ACU A.I.: "Yes we do why planning to give the aliens a warm welcome."_

 _ACU Pilot Reven: "Yeah something like that and are any of those ships in range of them."_

 _ACU A.I.: "Yes one of the Large ships some kind of carrier I would guess."_

 _ACU Pilot Reven: "Good set a missile trajectory and make sure that the Radar Absorbing Paint that command issued us for Operation Overlord is applied as well as the standard cloaking fields we have no ideas what their scanners are capable of so that we can make sure they won't see them coming then be ready to launch them and when they hit orbit have them stand by and wait for launch codes to begin full burn towards that carrier. Also send the comm line through the most recently established F.O.B."_

 _ACU A.I.: "Aye sir."_

 **POV Change**

Fleet Master Des'Letra was extremely happy he had been promoted to one of the highest ranks in the Sangheili Military and was in charge of the Assault Carrier **Omission of Guilt** one of the toughest of the ships in the Covenant Fleet and all because he was assigned to a routine patrol mission and found some odd structures on a glassed planet and now he has been tasked to find out if they where humans or something else and either exterminate them or get them to join the Covenant.

Suddenly his Comms Operator spoke up and said "Sir we have a communication coming from the planet originating from the center of the unknowns base we believe the unknowns are trying to communicate should I patch it through."

"Yes patch them through it is time to see who we are dealing with do they have holo projection capabilities or is it just audio."

"The transmission seems capable of 3D holo projection Fleet Master." The Comms Officer says

"Okay send the transmission to my holo projector silence on the bridge."

Suddenly the holo Projector sprang to life as an odd looking icon came up and began what would best be described as looking around (think of QAI for anyone who has played SupCom if not here is this link to a picture of him he normally looks around and pulses but this is a non motion picture user/stylesrj/media/New%20DYOS/13QAI_ .html randomly found that link FYI author gets credit) and suddenly it spoke "Hello unknown contacts I am _Cybran A.I. Implant Codename: Gideon_ and I greet you on Behalf of the Cybran Nation and her allies."

I was stunned to say the least not only did this new group have holo projectors but A.I.s as well still we had no clue who they where so we had to tread carefully till we did "Hello I am Fleet Master Des'Letra and I am here on behalf of the Covenant a mighty coalition of alien species now to business may we ask what your species name is and how you got to this planet."

"We arrived on this planet by means unknown to us one moment we were on our home planet fighting and suddenly nukes hit our position and we woke up on this planet and began base building operations as for what species we are we are Known as Cybran-Humans because we are humans with A.I.s intertwined with our brains."

Upon hearing this I growl and the crew goes stiff as a begin saying "Well then human show us your face so that I may see what you actually look like." And suddenly the holo projector changes to show a human with brown hair with no facial hair and a small scar in his left eyebrow (think Ivan Brackmen for the facial structure) and odd glowing lines running across the side of his face "Ah so finally we meet human know this the Hierarchs have decreed your race an abomination to the will of the gods and you shall be exterminated from the planet surrender now and we will kill you quickly along with the rest of your misbegotten kind."

Silence reigns for a few moments on the bridge as they wait for the humans response and what happened next shocked all of the Sangheili a thunderous laughing sound came over the comms as this primitive had the audacity to mock them openly when he was sure to be destroyed " I believe I will take my chances Fleet Master but as always I am a Cybran and what kind of gentlemen would I be if I did not give you a warm welcome Gideon send our friend their gifts and on that note I bid you far well Fleet Master I wish you luck in surviving this miserable attempt to destroy me." Stated the human with a smug smile and at that moment the holo-projector cut off.

"How dare he launch the landing craft and fighters I want every soldier able to hold a gun sent down there to kill him and whoever brings me his head shall be allowed to take one of my daughters as their wives (in their culture the Sangheili treat women as property to be bartered with for status or wealth) and I will personally promote them to my honor guard." To say I was pissed was an understatement this human dares mock me and thinks I won't kill him he will regret it I thought.

"Yes Fleet Master all shuttles have been deployed and are on route to various landing zones near the base wait what was that?" Said the Comms Officer

Suddenly a giant piece of metal hit and a massive shock wave the ship's shields and caused it to rattle but other than that there was no effect as the Comms Operator franticly tried to find out what was going on then they all noticed that one of the Assault Carriers had just become a new sun as almost all at once dozens of nukes hit the armor of the Assault Carrier. It was a direct hit to the armor because the shields where down while releasing transports and had turned the 5,346M Assault Carrier in to a floating pile of scrap in seconds while several new suns blossomed from the area fortunately the rest of the covenant fleet was EMP (Electro Magnetic Pulse) proof so the ships where still able to operate while shuttles had been disabled but still made it off the ship with several thousand warriors it was still a massive blow to the morale and amount of troops on the deployment

Now I was beyond livid at this human and his arrogance and his cowardice had enraged all of the ships command crew but I needed to know what happened "WHAT JUST HAPPENED COMMS WAS THERE ANY WARNING OPS DID OUR SCANNERS PICK ANYTHING UP HOW DID THOSE FORUNNERS DAMNED BOMBS SLIP PAST US?" I asked my command crew rapidly "Also tell **The Innocence Lost** not to move into glassing position until after the base is secure by our troop and then reduce it to ash."

 **POV Change** (takes place after the talks before the explosion)

"Alright Gideon let's see how those missiles stack up against them we have at least 5 Silos worth of Cybran EMP Flux Nukes floating up there right now so send all of them at the Carrier that is in range and detonate them when they contact with the hull or the shield have them fire on minimum burn to keep them undetected by the aliens." I stated to my A.I. companion

"Already on it they were in route the second that talks went south but I was waiting to detonate them till you gave the order they should hit right about now." Stated the A.I. as there was suddenly a new series of suns born in the sky for several minutes "Sir I have detected the Corvette moving into position over our newly established F.O.B. (Forward Operating Base) its still in orbit and right now I don't think the nukes would work again and the Mavor needs it to be inside the same gravity well that its fired from to be effective." He said while continuing to survey the situation in orbit. "Check your tactical map on the left console screen we have several hostile transports descending from orbit bring up estimated landing zones now"

"Okay thanks Gideon for that" I say while looking to my left to see a large number of bulbous purple shuttles descending into the atmosphere. "Damn those are some ugly looking ships Gideon what say we send them to hell where they belong?"

"Most of the shuttles seam clustered around that area I have started to fire the TML-4 silos at the first wave of the shuttles but they will not have the power needed to dent the armor on that Corvette we would need nukes or the Mavors or maybe even the Novax Satellite grid to damage it. But once they get in range I will set the Flayer SAM sites and Gunthers on suppression"

"Wait you mean they are not even heading to our main base what do you think this means do you think they just want to cut off our outposts and steal our tech or do you think it is something else? Maybe they think since that's where the transmission came from I am there." I asked honestly confused. "Also go ahead and set the Mavors to fire on that Corvette on my orders once it's in range I want to see what they can do to that ship's armor."

"Reven I believe it may have to do with the fact that the Stealth fields around that base have not been set up yet as we focused on setting up the Flayer SAMs and Triad point defense to secure the area as well as factories and other emplacements." Stated the A.I. after thinking for a few seconds

"That very well may be it but wont firing either the Mavors or the Novax system require us to uncloak our main base?" I asked calmly

"Yes it will but at the same time it should allow us to kill the Corvette outright and then we only have to deal with the last Assault Carrier and by that point most of our Liberator Nuke Silos will have rearmed themselves with several missiles which will cause more than enough damage to drive it off if not outright destroy it plus our special project should be finished in less than two days." stated the A.I. confidently

"Alright then that is the plan for now then launch half of our current Corsair fleet to engage the hostile drop ships and fighters and set the Flayers to fire pattern Hive (1 rocket per target across multiple targets 2 if it was a larger ship) then have another quarter of the Corsairs engage in bombing runs on the landing zones and get the Gunthers prepped to fire on any concentrated pockets."

 **POV Change**

Fel'Fusame was never nervous when fighting the humans previously but right now he feared for his life they had been in orbit waiting to deploy when out of nowhere the Assault Carrier he was stationed on just minutes before had exploded with all remaining hands lost they were told to immediately deploy to attack the base on the surface and thankfully they would have support from a Corvette to hold air superiority over the base area from orbit till glassing was ready after they finished clearing the base right now they had just entered the atmosphere and were being hit by missile fire and fighters that had come out of nowhere on the radar and started dog fighting with the Banshees and seemed to be doing a good job at it cause they had witnessed the hostile fighters get 3 to 1 kill rates and then take fuel rods and not even show a scratch (this is because of the structural integrity fields which will be explained in the bottom A/N as best I can) and just keep on flying but when the end came for them it was swift and unexpected as they just exploded and fell from the sky in a flying pile of scrap.

Suddenly a light changed from red to green and everyone stood up and checked each other's equipment and while this was going on a Sangheili Major walked in from the cockpit of the phantom and called everyone to attention for our briefing. "Alright listen up my fellow warriors of the Covenant we are about to land in a hot zone that has contested air superiority so this may get bumpy. Now as you all know this planet has been fought on before and we lost many brothers in arms here before now this is our objective." Right then a holo panel lit up and showed a massive factory complex with dozens of rows of tanks and other vehicles inside as well as landed fighters and other various things surrounded by think grey walls with AA and defensive emplacements scattered around in key locations. "Our objective is to completely destroy everything in this base and kill the Human Commander whoever collects his head shall be greatly rewarded by the Fleet Master and he seemed very generous from what I heard from the command crew."

"Alright be ready for touch down soon we will be landing as part of the second wave in a pre established area so get out and get your orders I am not waiting around for a fighter to strafe me." Stated the Phantom Pilot shocking me out of my thoughts about all this new news.

Soon the Phantom touched down in a small open dusty field surrounded by low rising hills and opened its doors we all jumped out and started to assemble when suddenly several loud whistle sounds where heard as several people screamed "Incoming." Which made every one jump for whatever cover they could find in the dirt and glass that was the surface of this planet as suddenly several areas where hit by massive artillery shells that blew several people apart and left nothing but blood and the limbs of those caught in the blast area others were ripped apart or electrocuted by the massive EMP released by the shells which disabled all of their equipment nearby (EMP has deferent effect in/out of atmosphere and because of what the Cybran EMP was designed to take out which are EMP hardened structures and tanks it would fry people by shutting off the neurons in the brain and equipment with ease) and I was thrown off my feet and into a disabled Ghost where darkness took over and I blacked out.

 **A/N time** **every one okay first Structural Integrity Fields due to the problems of tanks becoming disabled but still workable without being destroyed out right such as treads gun barrels and other items on tanks cause the development of a Nanite system that was then applied into the metal and the way it works is if something is hit by a shell it takes the damage and spreads it over the entire area of the Nanite surface weakening the entire tank evenly over the entire tank so that tanks that would have lost treads cannons even entire sides could survive being hit and the tank would still be mobile and able to shoot but when the system reached breaking point the entire system would overload all at once and cause the vehicle to in essence "self-destruct" and turn into a ball of scrap that could be re harvested later by engineers to be turned into mass to be used in other projects**

 **Also I have another story idea of a mass effect/prototype story that I will think about posting also I am posting a weekly poll whatever poll wins that week will be added to a tally to determine what story will be worked on the most and what story will be set on the back burner**

 **Thanks to everyone that reads this hope you enjoyed it please review or PM me I would love to hear thoughts**


	3. The Crucible of War

**Chapter 3: The Crucible of War**

 **The Lost Outpost Chapter 3**

 **Flight of Fire**

 **A/N okay everyone I am sorry that this took so long I have been trying to work out a believable war scene and still make the Supcom units from bulldozing the covvies**

 **Also a Guest reviewed I normally reply to my viewers and he said this exactly**

The commanders of the ACU aren't actually ranked as "supreme commander". To do so would be like having a democratic vote for every military decision during full scale war. Highly inefficient and costly. Just look up what the supreme commander rank actually entails. I believe they are just ranked as "commander" (which is just about the lowest command rank in Supcom)

 **Which is actually not true the Supreme Commander is a rank it is the best commander from each faction they are the Elite of the Elite for instance Elite Commander Dostya would have been the Supreme Cybran commander but after her passing it would fall to my guy as he would be the best Cybran after her and before that he was fighting for the UEF under the loyalty program which is why we also have the support commanders**

 **Now if you want questions answered or make a comment in a review and want to ask about why I say something feel free to ask by PM or mark your reviews and I will try and address you**

 **Unknown Planet**

 **Time: 12+ hours after first contact with unknown aliens**

 **Location: Cybran ACU cockpit**

 **POV: Supcom Reven**

"So Gideon how is it going out there now after our first strike against the landing zones and drop ships." I ask my resident A.I.

"Well initial combat data is going well i can post some statistics and data to your info terminal on the right side of the cockpit. we have set the Flayer missile to the hive setting to take out multiple targets but takes longer to reload but we have a high effect rate for shooting down hostile fighters but need 2 or 3 missiles to take out a drop ship as you know. It seems their fighters are a match for the Corsairs in the air but their pilots reaction times can't match up to our AI pilots speed but if we had some Tech 3 ASFs then I believe it would be a 10 to 1 kill rate or more if we used the Cybran tier 3 Gemini ASFs compared to the 3 to 1 we are seeing now sadly I am still trying to repair the data file to unlock them again hopefully it will be fixed by the time we unveil our special project and the TML-4s are taking out numerous drop ships thinks to the fact that they are relatively slow and cumbersome sadly we are low on missiles and have to start building new ones between each launch. The Gunthers are ripping the hostile ground troops apart and it seems the EMP is having an added effect against the organic targets and it seems the Triad point defense are ripping their tanks up but the infantry seem to not set the target parameters to go off so I have to track them separately but the tanks and planes have no problem finding targets organic or hardened so all in all very well and only about half their shuttles are actually landing but there are a lot of shuttles coming." Gideon informed me

 **POV Shift**

 **Fel'Fusame**

 **+4 hours after landing**

"Ugh my Head is killing me what happened." Suddenly my memories came back to me and I remember what happened as I sat straight up and looked around and saw a scene from nightmares dead warriors of all races where strewn everywhere and destroyed vehicles scattered around in chucks. so I decide to get up and see if anyone is alive I start out by calling out for anyone but no one responds so I begin walking amidst the fallen bodies of my brothers and fellow warriors suddenly I hear gunfire from nearby so I decide to head over the low rise towards it thinking that I might be able to assist my surviving brethren.

After a few minutes of hard jogging I top a rather large hill and come upon a scene that could easily be described as hell there are strange looking tanks fighting wraiths and ghosts and planes firing at banshees and dropping bombs on hard points and clusters of infantry on any units fighting in the craters and missile holes behind the wrecks of dead armor allied and hostile alike and mediums sized spider like walkers everywhere hunting down the infantry with lasers I stood and watched in horror as my brothers and their allies were being systematically wiped out. While some areas had enough wraiths and fuel rods to keep the monstrous machines away but off in the distance a giant base stood against the horizon he could barely see over the wall even though he was on a rather large hill overlooking the battlefield but even then he could see that the base was well defended with gun turrets and missile sites while the artillery guns were firing nonstop on any unshielded positions. I look around for a moment before deciding to make for the nearest base that seemed to be holding the metal monsters at bay.

After about twenty minutes of full out sprinting across the open terrain jumping into craters and pot holes and hiding behind dead tanks to avoid being gunned down I was extremely tired and winded but I had made it to the shield bubble I had been trying to reach and was now making my way into the base itself.

"Hello anyone there I am Elite Minor Fel'Fusame I just made it here from my drop site and am ready for reassignment as far as I know I am the only survivor." I yelled to the barricade

After a moment of waiting an Elite Major leaned over the wall and said "Wait you survived one of the drop site massacres you are either lucky to be alive or you are an extremely stupid liar now then get in here you will need to see the Field Marshall." he said while gesturing towards the shield gate and lowers it by hitting a button on the console

"So what has happened I was knocked out after several artillery shells struck my landing zone and killed every one if anyone survived they took off without me because when I woke up no one was left?" I ask with hope that others from my drop site or more specifically my squad had indeed made it and had just missed his unconscious form when they left the drop site.

"Sadly I do not believe this to be the case you are the only one to arrive claiming to be from one of the outlying drop sites after we saw what happened to the first and second waves we had the Assault Carrier drop several shield bubbles and plasma AA cannons and most of our remaining armor in order for use to even remotely get troops safely to the ground and even then it has still been hard as some of the savages artillery and missiles will break the shield some times and land in our ranks honestly brother I think we may take extreme losses on this planet before we take this base and that is if this is truly the only base but the odd thing is that if we kill one of those damned machines another just walks or rolls out of the base a few minutes later and we still have a hard time getting our troop ships through due to the fact that they now have air superiority and do not mind losing dozens of fighters to kill our drop ships in mass the odd thing about this though is out of all the wrecks we have went through to find our enemies we have not found one single human as of yet." He said shattering my hopes that my friends and squad mates had made it and completely stunning me at the sheer amount of loses we were taking

"What that can't be why has the Corvette not glassed the base yet?" I say while looking around to see the Corvette and all I find is a giant smoking area beyond the horizon and no trace of the corvette in the sky

"Brother the Corvette was shot down 2 hours ago by the same form of nuclear strike that took out the **Righteous Fury** before we deployed and the ship master just stated he thinks they are out of nukes so he is bringing the **Omission of Guilt** down to glass the base he believes the shields and armor will hold while the plasma projector readies to fire."

"Well at least something will go right." I state hopefully.

"You know what they say about the best laid plans." He replied back in an off handed manner.

 **Unknown Planet**

 **+13 hours since alien contact**

 **Location: Cybran ACU Cockpit**

 **POV: Supcom Reven**

"So they are sending in the last ship to attack us huh Gideon?" I ask my A.I. partner

"Yes sir they are it seems we have royally pissed their leader off and now he wants nothing more than to see us dead too bad he doesn't realized that isn't even our real main base just a lower end F.O.B. even if they do burn the thing to the ground we will just reveal our real base and simple over run them completely from this location."

"Yes such a shame I would love to see the look on his face when the clocking field comes off and we vaporize his reptilian hide with the Mavors Speaking of which have you set them to track the ships yet I want to know right when he passes the point of no return and then have the Mavors fire nonstop till it is destroyed and hopefully the shields have to come down for them to fire that massive weapon on the underside." I state sounding happy about the fact I was about to break the aliens back in one massive surprise attack.

 **POV Des'Letra**

 **Location: Super Carrier Command Deck**

"Sir we have reached the optimal position for glassing the base. We are ready on your mark" stated the comms officer

"Good let us show this human filth what we can do commence glassing at once" I stated with hated filling my voice

"Yes sir right away" stated comms

"Wait sir I have detected unusual reading a good ways from this location it seems another base just appeared out of nowhere that is even larger than this one and that they have fired some massive set of weapons at us."

"What how did this happen, that savage tricked us. I will admit that he is smart is there any way to stop the glassing beam and restore the shield partially before they hit us?" I ask amazed at what a simple human just managed

"No sir there is simply not enough time before the impact takes us." Comms stated

"Well sound the all hands brace and alert the ground leaders of what is about to happen and by the Forerunners try and evacuate the ship it has been an honor to serve with you all."

 **POV change Fel'Fusame**

 **Location: Covenant FOB**

"Hey what's going on with the supper carrier why are they ejecting escape pods?" I ask stunned as a sense of dread fills me

"I don't know but it worries me they wouldn't abandon a ship like that for no reason."

Suddenly 4 bright streaks of light come across the horizon and pierced the hull of the unshielded war ship causing tremendous damage all across the hull and ripping large holes in the ship before 4 more streaks fly across the horizon and strike the ship again causing it to start losing altitude and then four more fly in and land the death blow to the ship by striking the main reactor and causing a chain reaction of explosions completely destroying the ship in a magnificent purple and blue fire ball.

"Forerunners have mercy on us all." I stated somberly as I watch in horror at what has happened suddenly I hear something off from the distance

"To any surviving aliens your last ship has been destroyed and orbit above the planet has been cleared by my fighters you have no reinforcements and no way to escape any member of your group that lays down your weapons and peacefully enters the trucks that are coming around soon will not be harmed or attacked in any way however any who fail to surrender will be eliminated with extreme prejudice." Stated a Human sounding voice

"What do we do now." I ask the Elite Major next to me

"I guess the first thing to do would be to find the Field Marshall he is now the highest ranking member of the Covenant here."

 **A/N I do wish to apologize this chapter has been re wrote and rewrote dozens of times trying to get it to meet my standards so that I would feel proud of posting it and even yet I still feel like it is lacking because of my inexperience writing war scenes so I would like some feedback for anyone who is willing to give it about what I did right/wrong on this chapter and I hope everyone likes it sorry it was a little short and also I think I will be working on a different story for awhile so I can work out how to proceed with this one cheers you guys**


	4. The Anvil's Heat

**I just realized I made a massive mistake and lost an entire chapter worth of content about the back story and now I am going to do my best to recreate that chapter from memory trying to reorganize everything from scratch again is a pain thankfully I seem to have a lot of my old data back also I have something for you guys to judge sized by ( watch?v=RpFTleSEyYA) that video is the Cybran Campaign opener and it shows a human in relevance of the tech 3 Gemini ASF as well as the actual comparison against the actual ACU itself. Any ways hope you enjoy the read**

 **Rising Fury**

 **SCMDR Reven POV**

 **Location: ACU Cockpit**

 **+18 Hours since alien contact**

"Okay now that the last ship has been destroyed I am willing to bet that they will either mount a ground assault or they will surrender. But based on the fanatical devotion they have shown so far we need to make ready the defense at F.O.B. Dagger and get over there personally and be ready to lead the counter attack in person." I say to Gideon while looking at the after math of the Assault Carriers destruction on one of the Tac screens to the left side of the ACU cockpit

"I can't help but agree with you based on the vicious nature of our enemy and the fact that they are willing to take astronomic losses just to try and get a small field advantage or achieve an objective. I mean they small aliens whose name I have found out to be a race called the Unggoy act as suicide bombers igniting plasma grenades and jumping under our tanks or using what they call a fuel rod cannon to attack but because of their small size the tanks have a hard time tracking them to attack the Mantis ASB seems to have an easier time but only just slightly. Which would mean that they are used as cheap expendable fodder for these aliens they have instilled death before retreat in them which would only work in a religious group?" Gideon stated after cycling through the data he had gathered during the battle

"So we are agreed then we need to head to Dagger and deploy so we can boost production and defense in the area around it before leading the counter attack on them from the base. Also did we ever get that prototype camouflage module working I want my arrival to be a surprise to them shock and awe and all that?" I say thinking about the psychological effect having a walker as big as my ACU coming out of the base with the tanks would have on them.

 **POV Fel'Fusame**

 **Location: Covenant Field HQ**

Me and the Elite Major where currently running through the camp towards the Field Marshals tent ducking around and over obstacles and other warriors on our way as we hurried to reach the tent before opening the flap and walking into a scene of utter chaos as Majors and Rangers hurrying about from station to station trying to gather Intel and find out what's happening outside the camp. Suddenly an Elite Ranger walks up to them and says "What are you two doing here I thought you had orders to be watching the gate and I have not seen you before in camp where did you come from?"

"I have come from one of the outlying first wave drop sites shortly after landing the site was hit by artillery and rockets and planes during the chaos an explosion went off nearby and threw me off my feet and into a destroyed Ghost, but it managed to shield me until I regained consciousness and then I slow looked around the drop site I found no survivors so I gathered some gear and headed to the nearest strong point which was here while trying to avoid getting engaged." I reply to the Ranger "After I made it here I told the Major here what happened and he let me in and brought me here to get orders then on the way here we witnessed the destruction of the Super Carrier carrying the Fleet Master as far as we saw none of the command deck escape pods where launched before destruction."

Suddenly an Elite in ornate violet armor with blue highlights speaks up from the other side of the tent "That is truly disheartening to hear but it was to be expected that he went down with his ship now then you said that you made it from one of the drop sites if that is truly the case you are the first and only so far, so please tell us your name and which site you where to be deployed to so we can confirm if you where actually there or not."

"My name is Fel'Fusame and I was to be deployed to sector 27-13-2 on the east side of the base by phantom where me and my recon team where scout the right flank and see if we could find a path to the base through the mountains before heading back and giving a report. I reply with absolute certainty

"He speaks the truth my brother was a member of that drop zone and he told me the plans for his drop teams before he left to be deployed." Spoke the Ranger from earlier "I take it that means that my brother is dead then I only hope the same fate wont befall the rest of us."

"Well then since that clears that up it mean you now have more experience in the field than any other Elite here in this tent which adds up to the fact that you have just earned a promotion to my Honor Guard since you are a scout and I know you saw what was happening out there I could use your input on our current situation, maybe you can see something the rest of us are missing. Also my name is Zivu'Moramee Field Marshal and acting leader of the remaining Covenant forces on planet, welcome to my Guard young one also Major return to the gates please." Said the Marshal Leaving me absolutely stunned by the fact I had just been promoted to the Honor Guard of a Field Marshal which is an honor most senior Elites would give their children away for and I had made it to that rank because of the simple fact I had survived when no one else did and then made it across open terrain under constant heavy hostile patrol without being killed

"I thank you for this great honor Field Marshal and I hope I won't fail you but as for an initial report I can give you my own observations. First thing is all of the hostile forces seem robotic in nature and no one has yet to see or discover any infantry or humans in general I searched the wreck of a plane that was shot down in a dogfight and crashed less than 150 feet from me and I never saw a pilot eject or climb from the wreck, so this means that we are not fighting the UNSC and instead might be fighting an unknown enemy. Possibly even the people who created the demons based on the strength of these monstrous armored units and their lack of organic input which would be very dangerous as this would mean that we may see more of these robotic abominations appearing across all our fronts." At this statement everyone in the room grew silent and drew in on themselves slightly as the atmosphere grew even more hopeless inside the command tent "Second thing I have noticed is that we can hit these Hostiles with enough firepower to render any human tank to scrap or leave it damaged enough to be inoperable and not even leave a scratch on the armored plates but yet when they do die it's suddenly and all at once which means that something keeps these units alive until they have reached a critical breaking point that when exceeded causes a catastrophic and total collapse and destruction of its systems." I say hoping that I made sense of this to the rest of the personal in the tent which seems to bring some comfort back to them knowing that the enemy can in fact be defeated and stopped "So do to this information I believe we need to stop using our standard weaponry like the Type-25 Direct Energy Rifle (Plasma Rifle), the Type-51 Carbine (Covenant Carbine), the Type-33 Guided Munitions Launcher (Needler), the Type-25 Carbine (Brute Spiker) and instead focus on deploying teams armed with Type-1 Energy Weapon (Energy Sword). the Type-2 Energy Weapon (Gravity Hammer), the Type-33 Light Anti-Armor Weapon (Fuel Rod Cannon), and the Type-25 Direct Energy Pistol (Plasma Pistol). As the former weapons have little effect on hostile armor where the latter has some function that works against them wither it be the ability to cause large amounts of damage or temporary disabling their systems.

"Thank you for this information Fel it is certainly more than we had before, alright radio the field troops out there and tell them to slowly draw in the lines back towards the shields and from now on to use focused fire tactics against hostile armor and let them know that we are fighting non-organic hostiles operated by remote of advanced AI everything out on the field is a soul less abomination bent on nothing but death that are being led by a human with strange glowing marks on his face. Next tell them that whoever claims the head of any human fighting us shall be granted one of my daughters or a place in my family court back on Sangheilios. Lastly someone get my new guard a set of armor to match his new status as a member of my Honor Guard and make an announcement of his promotion amongst the rank and file." Stated the Field Marshal before letting out a deep sigh while stretching his mandibles and suddenly looking older then he actually was before refocusing on the holo table

 **SCMDR Reven POV**

 **Location: ACU Cockpit**

 **+23 Hours since alien contact**

"Okay well it seems that the aliens have gotten smart and changed tactics they have started focusing fire across their line and have started to draw back on that shield on the hill right outside of the range of our Gunthers to form a perimeter and start using their AA and artillery to regain local dominance. As it stands we lack enough units to overrun the position without risking them defeating it and counter attacking us and while I believe our defenses can hold them off I don't think it wise we try to do that because if they get any sabotage teams into the base because our turrets are not calibrated to target infantry and that team makes it inside the FOBs Paragon and detonates it then the base would be leveled meaning we would have to fight from long range or just kill them all in fell swoop with the Mavors." I listen to Gideon giving me an assessment of the situation while bringing up the relevant info on my tactical displays to highlight the changes on the battle field for me so that I can continue to focus on getting more units into the field and constructing new structures.

it seems that when the records for schematics where damaged so was our ability to construct unit it has caused a massive slow down in the Nano-Lathing process which has resulted in build times going from mere minutes to several hours and has caused a lot of our more powerful units to be unavailable. Thankfully we had enough prep time to set up defenses and artillery or we would have been swamped by the hostile infantry because the AI was not calibrated to fight targets that small but the artillery is able to just area of effect splash fire and kill large groups of them without needing precise aim.

I shift my attention from the tactical display to the picture stuck on the left side of my screen of a young Russian woman with black hair and icy blue eyes with a beautiful smile on her face holding in her arms a small swaddled child ( wiki/The_Cloned_Russian) her name was Supreme Commander Ivana Dostya and in her arms was my son Gabriel Clark a child not even a year old I stare at the picture for another few moments before placing my hand on the picture and closing my eyes remembering all the things that happened during the Infinite War all the horror and losses, all the hard fought battles and the triumph over impossible odds. Then I remember all the good times of my comrades fighting with me of meeting the love of my live and the day all that was taken from me. That fateful day on Hades during the ACU Ambush where the traitorous Cybran commander Hex5 attacked Dostya in a surprise attack and killed her before I could redeploy my forces I remember staying well after the recall was available and slaughtering the Seriphem Commanders that stayed in the area trying to finish me off but even with nine of them they had no chance against my fury.

I remember being recalled to base before passing out in my ACU cockpit and when I awoke I had received news that Sanctuary a joint colony containing UEF, Aeon and Cybran civilians and where me and Dostya's home was, where our son was being watched by Cybran caretakers was attacked and destroyed by Seriphem and rouge Aeon forces there were also reports that Hex5 was amongst those attacking. Upon hearing this I tore myself out of the medical bay and made my way to my ACU before launching an unauthorized warp to Pearl II and began attacking the rouge Cybran forces based there before finding out that Hex5 and QAI were both on planet after receiving a transmission from Doctor Gustav Brackmen the "Father of all Cybrans" informing that they had received info intercepted by Gideon and transmitted for decryption before informing me he would be coming to the planet personally after I killed Hex5 to deal with QAI.

I remember the next hour vividly I told Gideon to take control of the combat forces and open a hole for Brackmen while I went after Hex5 i took 2 Ripper Experimental Cybran Gunships I had just deployed and set out on a warpath towards Hex5s base I remember destroying his army his outposts and even his main base before my Rippers finally got shot down by a swarm of fighters from QAI in a last bid chance to have Hex5 survive. I remember telling Gideon to broadcast an experimental shut down code from my ACU into Hex5's ACU unfortunately his AI figured out what we were attempting and set up a feedback loop and sent it back to my ACU as well which disabled both of us.

 **POV Shift**

 **CMDR Reven day of Pearl II fight against Hex5**

(shifting to a first person style where it's actually happening but is still in a flashback I hope I made this shift understandable and sorry for the text blocks)

"Fuck Gideon the ACU is shut down did we get that bastard too?" I ask while standing up and grabbing my Cybran Laser Rifle and UEF Gauss Handgun before deploying my helmet out of my Cybran infantry armor ( /video-game-stocks/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/supreme-commander-2-Ivan_ ) (think Ivan Brackmen's armor with a Cybran styled Deadspace helmet) before crawling to the exit hatch on the head of the ACU and crawling out. "Hey Gid you think the Jump Jet system could get us down from here I think they honestly never meant for someone to leave the ACU unless it was in a Maintenance Cradle?" I ask questioning Brackmen's design for ACU exit hatches

"Honestly I might be able to trigger it at the right moment were we will slow but not completely stop before hitting the ground it will hurt but I think we can handle it." He says while planning, the jump jet system which was normally used to make quick hops to get to higher ground or slow you down during small falls not from nearly 20 meters up (roughly 65.6 feet for those not into metric). "Alright let's do this and pray it works out." I say excitedly before running forward and jumping off the ACU when I notice that Hex5 has had the same idea and is jumping as well I quickly refocus on the drop down and right about 20 feet off the ground I feel the shock of my Jump Jets kick in and cause gravity to suddenly try and reassert itself which cause some serious vertigo and whiplash but all in all didn't result in any injuries before slowly descending to the ground.

"Well that went well don't you think?" I hear Gideon asking in my head with what seems to be a smug attitude.

"Yeah sure it did you didn't have to deal with the sudden deceleration though." I say feeling rather nauseas about it but quickly gather my bearings before removing my laser rifle off my back and quickly scanning the terrain for Hex5 upon not seeing him amongst the cracked terrain of Pearl II's rocky and grassy terrain I ask "Where did that bastard go Gideon I can't lose him now not when I am this close to getting vengeance for Dostya and Gabriel?"

"I detected a slight energy spike when he landed he is about 20 feet away in a jamming field I can't pin point where exactly but I can tell you he is still in that rough area." He says after taking a quick scan of the area.

"Alright well lets go." I say while moving from cover to cover in that direction watching for any glints or bumps that didn't belong behind the rocks in front of me before I finally notice a black shoulder pad sticking around the side of a small rock I quickly look around for a way to flank him but notice there is no cover anywhere except the rocks me and him are hiding behind and a few missile craters so instead I crouch in a braced position and sight my rifle on the rock and went to waiting for him to poke his head out. I didn't have to wait long before he tried to look around and spot me and the second I saw his head I opened up on full auto with my rifle sadly he noticed me before I could hit him and ducked back behind cover before tossing a grenade over cover at me. "Shit I knew I forgot something I left all my grenades on the ACU." I quickly run and jump into a missile crater but right before I land I hear a short burst of lasers rip over me as Hex5 tried to shoot me and missed I quickly land and roll into a crouched position and return fire causing him to duck back down again before blind firing in my direction and getting lucky and hitting my rifle and melting a hole through it so I quickly grab my service issue UEF Gauss Pistol from a holster on my hip and charging him with it. About halfway through the charge he comes around cover and tries to fire another burst at me but I use my Jump Jets to launch myself into the air and out of his immediate line of fire before dropping down and managing to turn my weight into a massively powerful drop kick which sent him sprawling back and coughing before I managed to recover and rush over to his fallen form and put my handgun to his forehead.

"Now before I kill you I have to ask why Hex5 we where like fucking brothers after I helped you free your sleeper cell I fucking trusted you with my life and then you show up after disappearing for years just to kill my wife you bastard you didn't even have mercy on her you killed her like an animal. Then I get a report that you where with a group that attacked my home planet and built nukes to kill civilian centers you killed my son on Sanctuary it wasn't enough for you to take her from me but you had to kill my son too. So I want some answers what made you do it was it worth it?" I ask him my voice breaking and my hand shaking.

"I did it to save us I did it so the Seriphem wouldn't kill the Cybran Nation I did it to try and convince them to keep us around instead of killing us like they have with the UEF." He states full of conviction and pride. "And no I don't regret it and I would do it again to if I had to."

"You moron they won't spare us they want all humanity to die they have already slaughtered thousands of civilians and military personal this month alone they aren't just focused on the UEF they have invaded Aeon and Cybran territory too they had you attack a colony that was the first joint project between all three nations that colony with my son on it had hundreds of thousands of Aeon, UEF and Cybran civilians on it don't you get it they played you and QAI helped them. You are not a hero you are a mass murderer to our people that's why I came here to put you down and end the threat rouge Cybran military personal have generated I didn't even know you or QAI where here tell I was deployed and started fighting you ." I say no longer saddened but pissed off at this man's stupidity.

"No that's impossible they promised they swore if I helped them they wouldn't kill any Cybran civilians they said that they only wanted revenge for the atrocities the UEF committed on the colony that they wiped out." He said his pride fading as he slowly started to relies how badly he had been played by the Seriphem. "I swear if I had known I would have never done it Reven-29 I swear that I wouldn't have helped them just please let me have another chance so I can redeem myself man."

"I am sorry Hex5 but ignorance is no excuse for what you have done you ran out of mercy when you took Dostya from me and now I can't forgive you nor can I forgive myself but maybe you will find away to redeem yourself on the other side my old friend." I say as his face goes from pleading to understanding before he looks me in the eye and says "Valhalla awaits those who have lived by the martial code those noble few who dedicated their lives to the pursuit of fighting so that others wouldn't have to I swear that when I get there I will find your wife and your son and I will beg for their forgiveness and I will watch over them until you can finally rest yourself and come and join them."

"Thank you for that Hex I truly wish things had been different I really wish it didn't come to this." I quickly pull the trigger on my handgun ending the life of the first person I had ever truly befriended after being rescued from the Cybran Loyalty Program by Dostya when she defeated me during Operation Forge after the Black Sun project made it off planet. I then proceeded to shed a few tears for the lost before saying "Until Valhalla my brother rest easy."

I then stood up and turned away before heading back to the foot of my ACU I then ask "Hey Gideon how do you suppose we get back in now I didn't even think about that when we jumped."

"I don't know actually it's too bad that we don't have the ability to use the Nano-lathe if we had a more portable variant we could have repaired your rifle mid fight and we could build a mini scaffolding to get up to the top of the ACU but for now I will call a gunship from the base to lift us into it but I will put a note down to find a way to make an infantry sized Nano-lathe and reactor for it but we would need a portable mass tank as well."

"Well shit you know that would be helpful for stuff like this anyways I guess we got a little bit before we have to head out anyways so wake me when the gunship gets here." I say before leaning back against a rock and relaxing before falling asleep.

 **POV Shift**

 **CMDR Reven present**

"Your thinking about them again aren't you I can tell." Gideon stated slightly sadden

"Yeah Gideon I am I miss them so much I really wish I had more time to spend with them especially Gabriel I really wish he could have grown up

"Damn Gideon they did more damage against our line units then I thought I mean our Corsairs are having a fair trade rate in the skies to match our plane production since we are putting out a new squadron of fighters every hour (5 fighters per squadron and 5 squadrons make a wing) and we still have 7 wings available in the air running Combat Air Patrols and Close Air Support for our available ground assets. But our Mantis units are having a high casualty rate again their infantry due to low health and the recently adopted focus fire tactics our enemies have employed our tanks have fared a little better against the infantry due to the higher armor and high explosive rounds they have been utilizing but against tanks they have been having some issues as the aliens have taken to hiding them behind hills with AA cover and using them as high powered mortar carriers, which has lead to a dramatic increase in loses in the past 6 hours which has slowed us into a stalemate." I stated while looking first hand at the battlefield and summarizing it out loud for the A.I. to hear. "So how are we going to change that Gideon?"

"Well as I see it we really have only two options we can either pull back into the base perimeter and make it look like they finally broke our assault while we fortify our troops strength and then wait for them to attack thinking we are too weak to effectively counter attack, or we could simply continue to pick up the pressure and build more artillery and missile emplacements and bomb them back until they surrender or break your call." Gideon replied after looking over the situation and assessing troop strength.

"Okay well if that's the options let's give em a show and start a retreat make it look like a rout and detonate a few of our units on the way back make it look like they have not only broken the assault but have succeeded in breaking our sprit." I say to Gideon

"Alright orders relayed and understood our units are falling back and our artillery is picking up to cover the retreat hopefully they will take the bait and attack in a last ditch effort." Gideon replies before bringing up the cameras on screen to show our fall back and asking if I had any other orders

"Not right now Gideon but make sure to keep an eye on the situation."

 **POV Fel'Fusame**

 **Location: Covenant Field HQ**

After leaving the command tent and making my way to the quarter master to get my new armor I step out of the tent and made my way to the front gates with the Major so he could resume his station and I could take a look at the battlefield so I could accurately get a bead on the situation which was looking more and more grim as it went on until finally I noticed the lead hostile elements start to break off and begin retreating while setting up fall back and fighting pits to cover forward retreating elements until they got past the lead line which caused a mighty roar cry to be released by the soldiers that had been fighting these mechanical monstrosities for the past twenty hours at almost point blank range. Thinking on my feet I quickly yell to the Major "Come here brother it looks as if the hostiles are pulling back and that the artillery is picking up their fire on our forward lines to keep us from making an effective counter assault!"

Quickly walking and observing the situation and the tactics being employed by the machines he says "It seems so you should hurry back to the command tent and inform the Marshall."

I quickly take off running down the set of stairs that led to my perch along one of the outer barricades before heading up the hill running through the muddy camp and battered soldiers of all the Covenant races each in their own groups milling about in tents and around fires eating, talking, sleeping and even a few crying or mourning by themselves over lost friends and family before I finally made it to the top of the hill and into the command tent "Field Marshall the human war machines have begun to retreat while increasing the bombardment on our forward positions to keep us pinned down." I say as soon as I get through the tent flap while interrupting several of the Sangheili Generals and Ultras discussing plans over the holo maps with the sudden new.

The Fleet Marshall quickly turns to look at me before saying "Ah so I take it you just came from the walls then good yes we just had another runner come bearing the same news not moments before you came in now then we need to figure out if it's a ploy or a tactical withdraw."

"We have no more time to debate must strike quickly and wipe out this menace before worse comes upon us and he has time to regroup we need to must every last soldier and attack his position now!" a rather angered Sangheili General starts yelling.

"Honestly I agree with the young General we must strike before the enemy regroups as we have already suffered astronomic loses on this planet we must gather all remaining me who are combat worth and prepare to attack within the next 2 hours open up the comms channels so I may speak with my troops." The Field Marshall says in a commanding tone before walking over to the communications station and picking up the transmitter "To all remaining Covenant troops this is your Field Marshal Zivu'Moramee as of right now we have been beaten upon mercilessly by the Human he has fought us with cowards tactics and soulless machines he has used hidden weapons to destroy our ships and has used massive artillery barrages to keep us from attacking but he has not yet broke us he has finally run out of options and has retreated behind the walls of his fortress and hides like a coward. But as of this moment all of that changes we are done hiding from his planes we are done fighting a defensive battle we are going to strike against his fortress we are going to break it open and we are going to destroy this cowardly Human once and for all we march in two hours gather yourselves my brothers!" he shouts into the transmitter while all around you can hear the Covenant forces cheering and getting ready for combat with a massive boost to morale the temperament in the camp has spiked massively finally the time for waiting is over now is the time to strike. "Fel come with me we have to get our weapons and prepare to join this fight."

"Um yes Field Marshall right away." I say before holding the tent flap open for him and then following him out and into the now active camp with Unggoy pack where scurrying around with weapons and food distributing it while Yanme'e fly toward the repair fields with tools and spare parts for the tanks and planes while Kig-Yar flit about between tents running messages and Intel to the troop leaders with the plans for an assault.

"So young one what do you think about this situation honestly between you and me with no lies or hubris do you think we have a chance?" the Field Marshal says while looking me in the eye as we continue towards the armory

"Honestly Field Marshall." I say before he interrupts and says "Just call me my name or even just Zivu you're my Honor Guard now remember." He says calmly while smiling at me. "Um well then Zivu I honestly dislike this situation I feel as though something is wrong but we have few other options the only path left would be to surrender if we can't defeat the Human but I believe we will fight with all our might and hopefully we shall come out victorious if the Forerunners grant us their blessings this day."

"Good so you do have a good brain inside your head young one I already know that we cannot prevail in this fight it is a foregone conclusion with the numbers we have been seeing so far we simply don't have enough men that made it to the ground. I mean out of the nearly ten thousand men we had in orbit to deploy between the Omission and the Fury only about sixty three percent where deployed off ship before they where hit and then on the way planet side that number got dropped by another half due to the drop site bombardment and the anti air so we had about three to four thousand men when you arrived and then we have had numerous loses and injuries during the last several hours so there is but a few of us left and I fear that even should we win we will all be outcasts and dishonored because of this massive disaster with not even one human body to show for it." Said the Field Marshal while looking disheartened about the situation.

"I am sure you have done the best you can Zivu now let focus on getting our new equipment together to begin the assault."

 **SCMDR Reven POV**

 **Location: ACU Cockpit/FOB outside alien landing area**

 **+25 Hours since alien contact**

"Reven it seem they have taken the bait the aliens have just broke ranks and are now coming towards the base with all the forces they have left it appears the battle formation has the single person assault craft known as a Ghost is leading the charge while the heavy armor and troop transports and in a chevron pattern behind them moving into range with air assets forming a protective ring around the transports." Gideon alerts me as the aliens begin to attack

"Good wait till they hit the point of no return and then deploy the arty to hit the ghosts to break their spearhead and then have the Corsairs come in on a double layered Chevron approach have the first chevron break and hit the hostile air assets to break through and then the second chevron go on a carpet bombing run amongst those transports if the EMPs can fry the transports and guns they are using it would force them into having to find new weapons or surrendering." I say looking over the Tac-map screen on my left

"Kill box has been reached the hostile force is committed I am opening fire on lead hostile elements with artillery and long range missiles." Gideon informs me as you can see dozens of artillery shells fired towards the advancing ghost formations where when they hit those that aren't killed immediately but where still close to the impact are launched at high velocity off of their Ghost do to it careening into the ground and flipping due to the EMP effects shutting off the internal systems. Then from the right flank of the advancing alien forces the fighter bombers fly in at high speed and the first flight break and attack all the Banshees and Phantoms in the formation that could pose a threat to the second flight who then smash through the broken air defense and proceed to rapidly drop bombs on the enemy transports not aiming for hits just saturation of the EMP on them before breaking out the other side to come back around for more precision runs.

"Alright Gideon open the gates and send out the armor." I say quickly as I watch the base gates open and a couple hundred MA12 Stryker tanks and Mantis Assault Bots pour out of the base. "Alright now let's get in this ourselves drop the Active Cloaking System" I say as I focus back on the main cameras that allowed me to see where I was piloting the ACU before grabbing the command sticks and moving forward into the fray that was about to be met.

 **POV Fel'Fusame**

 **Location: Covenant Attack Group**

As we commenced the attack everything was going smoothly until we hit the middle point between the two bases we were making good ground the attack group was maintaining a solid formation despite the occasional fight strafing or artillery shell landing in the ranks and then all hell broke loose watching from the commanders hatch of the Field Marshal's upgraded Type 29 Troop Transporter I watched as suddenly all the artillery guns changed target trajectories and dialed in on the advancing column before opening fire in massive concentrated bursts "Incoming Artillery seal the hatches!" I say but the situation continued to devolve from there watching through the external hull cameras several dozen fighters grouped up into two groups and then came about to attack the first wave broke our air escorts which allowed the second group to break in and bomb the transports which caused many to be either destroyed or disabled I watch as warrior of all races start to bail out of the damaged and disabled vehicles while pulling fellow warriors out with them missing limbs and covered in massive gashes before putting them into cover and hopping onto an external handle on another transport and just as things looked like we were in the clear to actually start the attack the gates all across this flank of the base and hundreds of tanks and mantises pour out before something simply horrifying happened a massive walker measuring at around 20 meters tall suddenly appeared out of thin air and began walking forward while firing indiscriminately on the Ghosts that made contact with the front lines.

I hear the comms channel crackle to life as another transport commander says "Forerunners have mercy what is that giant monstrosity it's massive and it's ripping our lead elements apart."

"I don't know what it is by the Forerunners I would bet money that it's got the accursed Human inside of it we must focus fire on it once it falls I believe the rest of these automated units will stop functioning." I quickly change lines over to the transports channel and say "Alright everyone get out and form up we have a new classification of hostile designated High Priority Target 1 it's a massive combat walker believed to be the operations location of the Human commander we need to focus fire on him and bring him down."

Shortly after saying that everyone in the transport has unloaded and formed up around the Field Marshal before unpacking a field plasma mortar and beginning to fire it while watching the battle unfold.

 _ **(Note: I am sorry that I didn't give you a dedicated battle scene here and it pisses me off that I couldn't but I could never get it to play out right or flow smoothly trying to explain foot combat against a completely mechanized force however I swear one day I will go back and rewrite this part to have a proper battle in it and this is one of the reasons this chapter took forever to remake.)**_

Roughly half an hour later the battle was all but over if you could even call it a battle it was more a well organized slaughter house I then hear Filed Marshal Zivu pull out his transmitter and begin speaking "This is your Field Marshal speaking I am giving you all the option to lay down your weapons and surrender as of right now we have no chance of beating this foe we are up against so you have two options before you first is continue to try and fight and die pointlessly or two you can surrender and hope the enemy is willing to show mercy. I am sorry proud warriors of the covenant that we have failed no that I have failed you it was an honor fighting with each and every one of you and may the forerunners have mercy upon each and every one of us."

 **SCMDR Reven POV**

 **Location: ACU Cockpit**

 **+26 Hours since alien contact**

The battle had been met and the alien where putting up a determined fight for how outnumbered they where once I revealed myself I came under massive amounts of concentrated fire from the hostile Wraith tanks but it would be awhile before it became a major issue considering about seventy three percent of them had already become scrap metal and most of the infantry was penned down in blast craters or in wreckage and the hostile air core was basically none existent and then the unexpected happened I saw the aliens start throwing down their weapons before getting on the ground in what looked to be a position to surrender "Gideon change engagement rules to return fire only no indiscriminate fire only fire if fired upon it looks like the aliens are starting to surrender and open up the suits external speaker systems so I can address the aliens."

"Okay done and ready for you to start speaking now."

"Attention to all hostile combatants if you lay your weapons down and come into the open and surrender no harm will befall you when you are taken into custody you have all fought with the honor of the great warriors in Valhalla and as such with be treated with honor and respect in return."

 **Okay guys Jesus this took way to damn long to finish I swear I have had a lot of hardware relationship and school issues but by god I swore I would finish this story and by god I will I want to apologize for the ground combat scene not being there yet if anyone wants to help with that I would be more then happy to shoot you a Docx packet with that section of the story and then work it out for me but anyways I hope I did okay with this story and made up for the long wait (I know I didn't) but I wrote and rewrote this fucking chapter trying to get it to work and feel right I scrapped and rewrote it 17 times before I finally got to this revision and just decided this is the best I can do till I get better at writing I will get chapter 5 revised and back up soon it shouldn't take too long though I hope then my updates will be based around my writers block and time so we will see how that works out**


	5. The Pheonix Rising

**Chapter : The Phoenix Rising**

 **A/N Hey guys/girls I am sorry about the delay do to a certain snow storm named Jonas and some financial issues I have no internet at my house any more but I will try and slip out every so often to update till it returns I hate that my life is so hellishly busy that I can't keep a regular schedule for updates but I will try harder since things have calmed down some and I have some time**

 **Also since I have not had one since chapter 1 Disclaimer I own nothing from these games except the ideas I have used to make stories out of these great games**

 **Edit 2 okay everyone this chapter has been edited and when you ready this I will be working on chapter 6  
**

 **The Lost Outpost Chapter 5**

 **SCMDR Reven POV**

 **Location: ACU Cockpit/F.O.B. Dagger/Outside Battlefield**

 **Time: 4 days after hard landing on unknown planet**

"Alright Gideon great job on the mop up completion, now I want to send out some engineers from all available forces into the field to start scraping tanks and wrecks and if at all possible find a way to bury the dead they may be aliens but they are still warriors fighting for their cause and I will see them disposed of with some modicum of respect. In the end all warriors shall end up in the same place provided they remain honorable and noble, Valhalla awaits for all who claim the mantle of a warrior, soldier or heroic men and woman that do great things in their lives and I wish to respect all those needlessly killed this day." I state sad about the needless loss of today's battle

"I hope you speak the truth about Valhalla it would be nice to think I may be able to go somewhere after termination and I will set the engineers to send the reclaimed mass straight to our special project and once complete I will have them store the remainder in mass storage unit inside. Also Total Recall is ready to be used on all base structures and units that are left on the planet upon departure." Gideon replied back somberly thinking on the amount of lives that he had helped end.

"Also Gideon send a notification to the captured aliens to find out who the highest ranking officer left amongst them is and have them and someone who can translate brought to the interrogation camber also begin recharge of the ACU. We had some bad hits to the shield system to shrug off so I want the internal capacitors recharged to 100% before the top of the hour and prepare to download to the Mobile Infantry Suit (the Cybran armor described in previous chapters) so I can take it to meet the alien's leader and also have some defense on me at the same time."

"Smart idea I will begin the move right now after relaying the orders anything else sir you seem deep in thought?" Gideon states

"No not at the moment Gideon I was just thinking about what this planet may have looked like before the Covenant glassed it. Turned it into a barren rock I wonder if there was other sentient life on the planet what it's name was why they glassed it and how many people died on the planet if anyone was here it's like Hades and Procyon all over again first my wife then my son and both sites look exactly the same as here nothing but glass. At least I was able to find time to go on site and properly grieve for both of them properly before Operation Overlord." I stated while thinking back to the infinite war and the Seriphem Invasion on all the dead allies, friends and even the hostile ACU pilots. Then came the memories of my family and through it all how I had somehow survived how I was the one person who managed to roll the dice over and over again and still win even if just by a hair. All the while my eyes wonder over the satellite in orbits data feed coming out on screen that showed the massive scars and gashes in the scorched planet's surface. Places where once there where oceans and forest now reduced to glass and craters places where animals once roamed are now inhospitable wastelands.

"That explains it then my friend I know what you are really thinking about and I hope you don't start brooding like you did on the way to Operation Overlord. I know we have been through a lot and that we can't stop moving forward now we have to do what we always have, stand defiant and push through adversity till we see the light on the other side."

"I know Gideon it still doesn't change the fact that she is gone the fact that when I lay In bed trying to sleep at night I still feel her raven black hair in my hand that I used to cup her face I can still see her ice blue eyes looking at me and that heavenly laugh when I did something stupid and she found it amusing, I still remember hearing her thick Russian accent the first time we meet in Doctor Brackmen's office. The taste of her lips on mine and the moments we spent together and then right at the end I see it in slow motion again and again. The worst part is there is nothing I can do to stop it I sit motionless and watch Hex5's Overcharged laser blast pierce the pilots compartment of her ACU I hear her screaming in agony as each and every last cell in her body super heated and cooked her in her own fluids over the microphone, moments after she said she would always love me and that she would see me on the steps of Valhalla with and we would enter together when I finally pass and my friend if you do make it to Valhalla with me all of us shall go in together as conquering heroes and victorious warriors we will find all the lost soldiers of the infinite war those who we had to end and those we lost to get here and we shall partake in the greatest feast the halls of Valhalla have ever known. Semper Fidelis my brother." I state slightly happier

"As the saying goes Ashes to Steel, Steel to Rust and Rust to Dust Simper Fidelis brother. I am with you every step of the way but for now I think we should stop brooding and get to back to work." Gideon states happily "Also it seems the statement to the aliens has drawn a crowd and they are starting to round up their leader so we can begin talks."

 **POV Fel'Fusame**

 **Location: Covenant P.O.W. center**

" _Attention this is a notice to all aliens present any English speaking aliens please step towards the tower at the center of camp and proceed to find out who is the most senior ranking of the English speaking_ _and then proceed to find how the highest ranking member left alive amongst your ranks and deliver this report to them. Proceed to the gate at the left of the facility you have exactly 10 minutes if no one is present at the scheduled time food and water will be limited until such a time as you come forward so please be punctual this is A.I. Gideon signing off."_

Upon hearing this I step out of the small bunker like structure we were given to live in eight such structures where built along the two sides of the square cage we had been put in and the back wall was the mess tent and water pump the aid station and the giant metal warrior garrison and the front was the gate guarded by massively imposing gun towers and in the center was the tower as it had been called by the lower ranks it was a giant metal spike running into the air with antenna on top (UEF Tier 2 Radar station) which also had video panels on the sides for when the human or his AI decided to address us. Sadly one foolish Grunt had tried to break it by punching the thing. The result was one of the giant walkers aiming at it and firing a single round there was nothing left of the grunt except for the blood spray and gore which had been left there by the human as what was taken as a reminder after that no one was foolish enough to try again.

Soon a small crowd of about ten out of the five hundred some odd aliens had gathered near the tower and where chatting as I approached after grabbing a small food bar that the humans food processer produced it tastes like a brute smells but it is filling and it gives you the energy to go about your day as I approach one of the Spec Ops Sangheili notice me and points at me and says that I seem to be the one in command as I have the highest rank except the Marshall as one of his Honor Guard

"So I take it that due to my position as the Field Marshal's Honor Guard I am the highest ranking among the survivors that speaks the alien's language amongst us and will be charged with escorting the Marshal to the meeting?" I say while looking at the ranger to which he replies

"It seems so Fel you will be charged with the protection and translation for our leader we trust you with him and hope you do not fail in your duty may the Forerunners watch over you as you go."

"By the Forerunners the Marshall shall return in the same shape as when he left or I shall not return myself you have my solemn vow!" I say full of pride and

After this quick conversation I walk over to the building I came out of and proceed to the very back and enter the Marshalls private room to find him sitting on his rack deep in thought.

"Marshall Moramee I have been the one tasked to escort to a meeting with the Human his AI said he wished to discuss what was to happen to us and our allies over the time of our stay we have just but a few minutes left to make it to the gate before they give us instruction on where to go so we need to get moving."

"Okay Fel you need not call me Marshall you are my Honor Guard and after you carried my unconscious body from the battlefield to this camp and no doubt saved me you have earned the right to call me Zivu or just Moramee and yes I guess we need to get going in order to make this meeting with the human."

After this me and the Marshall proceed out of the building and towards the front gate all the while we are getting stares from all the survivors wondering what was to be done during this meeting and if we would ever return and though I refuse to let it show I was thinking the same thing I was wondering if we would ever return to Sangheilios, if I would ever return to my keep and see my family and if I would have ever found a mate to be with and start my own family surely my promotion would guarantee I could have any female I wished upon my return as the Marshalls Honor Guard but for now I needed to focus and set an example for the rest we where almost to the gate when I heard a jackal squawk out

"Look at stupid Sangheili go to die at humans hands right my friends these elite think they so smart but they can't even see this is trap ha!"

Upon hearing this I stop and look directly at the Marshall waiting for him to order me to tear the insolent bird apart but surprisingly he just looks at the jackal laughs and keeps walking as if it was a joke or something that a close friend would say so I proceed to catch up to him when we got out of ear shot I asked

"Why did you let that Kig-Yar off I would have willingly tore him apart for you? I asked perplexed

"For three reasons one there are few enough of us alive as it is and me doing that would have sparked tension between all of the species and would have lead to a long string of hate crimes including murder. Two is that I need to show the troops that I am confident in my return and killing that Jackal back there would have only resulted in my basically admitting I was going to die. Three is that the human and his AI are still watching and I will not let them think we are mindless savages that kill for sport or fun does this make sense now my friend?"

"Yes Marshall I understand now and I believe we are just in time for the gate."

" _Attention Attention all aliens step away from the gates except for the commander and his escort anyone who attempts to make a break for the gate will be shot this is your only warning. Now to the Diplomatic party please step through the gates then turn left and go through the open door inside you will find a room with a table and three chairs please seat yourselves SCMDR Reven is on his way to meet you now."_

After the AI relayed the message to the Marshall we proceed to do as we were instructed and found our way to a square metal room with three seats two of which looked to be made to fit a Sangheili perfectly the other made to fit a human and there were three glasses on the table all filled with water so we proceeded to seat ourselves I then take a drink from two of the cups on the table to ensure if they were poisoned I would show the signs first and buy time for the Marshall to find treatment and then we got comfortable and observed there were no real decorations but it was still more comfortable then the racks we had to sleep on in the camp after about five minute the door opened and an Armored human walked in and his helmet folded away into a pocket on the back of his neck.

 **SCMDR Reven POV**

 **Location: MCS/En route to negotiations room**

 **Time: 4 days 12hours 37 minutes after hard landing**

 **(Please assume that if I talk that Fel is translating everything to Ripa after I say it)**

I walked through the door and took a look at the two Elites I took a quick scan to see that one had drunk from two of the glasses and the other had not drunk any at all so far which showed just how loyal the commanding Elite's guard was and showed that he had a warriors sprit I then chin the button to collapse my helmet into its compartment I then walk in and sit down on my side of the table and look at the one in red and gold armor

"So I take it you are the guard and translator well it's a pleasure my name is SCMDR Reven Clark of the Cybran nation and I am here to discuss what is to happen to you and the rest of the remaining aliens left on the planet my AI known as Gideon will be with us in just a minute

But I wish to make it clear the Micro EM pulse we have been using to keep your armor offline does not affect my gear so if you try and attack me I will kill both of you and then annihilate everyone in the camp but I don't honestly wish to cause any more deaths so please tell your commander I don't care about the past I am here to deal with the now of him and his troops lives also I would like names for both of you." I state making it clear I will tolerate no violence and showing that I don't hate them but will respond if threatened

I watch as the guard speaks to the leader and then replies calmly "This is Field Marshal Ripa'Moramee and I am his Honor Guard Fel'Fusame he wishes me to convey that he sees your warrior's integrity within you and that he hopes this meeting will be peaceful and come to a peaceful ending."

"A pleasure to meet you Fel and same to you Ripa now I wish to know why you attack me as I showed no hostile intentions and was trying to peacefully greet you and work out some way to have a peaceful first contact so what cause your fleet to become hostile?" I ask honestly hoping they could explain it all away and that I could find a way to fix this

"We were just following orders sent down from Des'Letra the fleet's highest ranking member if you want to know more you will have to go dig him out of the wreckage of the crashed Super Carrier and ask him. Other than that we can't say for certain and i hope it will not negatively affect our talks." He states hopefully and honestly as he can

"It will not I was just hoping for some answers as to why you hate humanity and are out to destroy them did the human race provoke yours somehow." I state hoping to clarify and honestly confused

"Ah well depends on who you ask really but apparently your species goes against the will of the main stream Covenant religion call me a heretic if you will but I do not believe a bit of it and neither does the Marshall we are a strange pair the two of us most of the time people like us are shunned or outcaste from our society but the military really doesn't care if it."

Right at that moment Gideon's real human based avatar appears **(think of a 21 century adult male wearing a pair of camouflage pants and a plain green shirt and some well built musculature then add black messy hair and Asian like face to him)** and says "Hello to you as well I am _Cybran A.I. Implant Codename: Gideon_ I see my host has already started without me but I wish to greet you none the less and hope we can find a peaceful solution to this issue with all due haste." He states happily

"Greetings to you construct as do we if I might ask may I ask why bother with prisoners at all why not just kill us and be done with it?" He asks looking puzzled "Not that I am complaining of course I am simply curious." He quickly amended

"It is because I have seen too much death in war that is why any of you that did not fight or surrendered where taken peacefully and have been treated humanely since. It is also because I was once held as a prisoner and understand what it is like, anyways my terms are this. One I want no fights breaking out in there as my peace keepers are giant robots that will shoot first and never ask questions two I will be leaving this planet all my stuff will self destruct after I leave except the POW compound I want you to wait for two days after I leave to use the tower to signal a ship I have left on planet to come pick you up with enough supplies to make it to the other side of the milky way if needed but will self destruct as well once you have been rescued three if you have any amongst you who might be willing to deal with a human I would like one of your number to come with me so that I can learn about your Covenant do my terms sound acceptable." I ask plainly

After a few minutes of watching the two converse Fel lets out a frustrated growl and turns to me and says "I have been instructed to tell you that yes your terms are acceptable and that we have decided who will be going with you." He says sounding slightly put out about something

"Okay well then send this person to me as soon as possible we will be leaving as soon as he arrives." I state wondering why he seems so bothered

"He is standing before you Reven I have been ordered by the Marshall to join you on your journey and if need be fight by your side and on my honor I will do so but I ask you try and not make it necessary that I kill my own kin." He states evenly

I look at Gideon and he looks back and we both sit for a moment quietly communicating with each other in my neural network

" _you know we can't truly trust him he would rather stab us then fight at our side so be very careful with this new 'resource' or we may have to put him down this is a difficult decision indeed for us we either wave him off and lose a possible ally or we accept and risk him betraying us" Gideon states while running through all the scenarios in his head_

" _Trust me Gideon I know I thought of all this myself but I will take him he could be invaluable for now we should depart and see what can be done to make ready and allow them to say their goodbyes." I answer back to him_

"All right you two I will be leaving in just a moment Marshall Ripa it has been a pleasure to talk with you and Fel but I ask you to return to the camp. Now Fel do you need to go to camp or are you ready to leave now?"

"I am ready to leave at any moment the only one I wish to say farewell to is right here." He states with a little hesitation

"Perfect then please follow me and inform the Marshall that the gates will open when he returns and that after we have departed he will have sole access to the gate controls and outside the gate will be a single building with all the confiscated equipment in it." I state to ease his mind

After this I head out of the room with Fel close behind me and we start to head to the armory to allow him to regain his gear and then head out to the launch site to head for space and the Marshall heads back to the POW camp to inform everyone what has happened and the personal sacrifice that Fel made by going to join the human to spare anyone else from it

"Alert unknown ship detected in orbit does not match any known Covenant profiles and seems to be using a passive stealth system to hide from radar but when it hit geosynchronous orbit the Omni cracked through its stealth and picked it up."

"Who do you think it is Gideon more aliens or something else. Also Fel we need to hurry to the armory and then to the launch site so please keep up." I say as I take off sprinting down the corridors at a reasonably fast pace

"Unknown but I have a rough image of what the ships profile is so maybe we can show it to our new companion once he is geared up and see if he knows anything about it."

"Sounds good is the HUD in his newly upgraded helmet up to date now if so we can ask him while on the move." I ask remembering the modifications I asked for to his armor including an EMP based kill switch in case things went bad south that would fry the suit and anyone inside it

"Yes it is so once there I will give him a very brief tutorial and then will ask him about it." Gideon stated right as I reached the door to the armory with Fel just a few steps behind me and we enter after a few seconds

"Alright now Fel I am putting a lot of trust in you right now I need you to grab any weapons or ammo you need and also that helmet right there." I say as I point to a Zealot's helmet that had some modifications done to it "Then Gideon will be showing you a picture of an unknown ship that has appeared in orbit that we will be going out to meet and we want to know what to expect if you have seen one in action before or not."

After this he gets geared up he walks through the weapon racks with a purpose and grabs a Carbine two Plasma Rifles (halo 2 style) and an energy sword that the Marshall said he had earned before walking over to the helmet and slowly putting it on before Gideon gives him a short tutorial about the new features and then pops up the picture on his HUD before asking what he knew about the ship

"That is a Human ship they call them Prowlers they are stealth ships designed to do recon and sabotage we have only ever destroyed a few and almost captured one but this is all I can tell you now I believe you are going to head for this ship of yours?"

"Yep Gideon is the ACU loaded?"

"Yes it is and the ship is ready for launch."

"Okay then let's get going."

A few minutes later we walk into a large underground area with a massive ship docked within on the sides of the ship it states **C.N.C. Litany of Fury** (okay for visuals think of the Sup Com 2 UEF Mega Fortress Air Experimental about the size of one of the UNSC's Repair Cradles with a MAVOR mounted inside the center of it and covered in missile racks and turrets for up close defense but the real hitting power is the aircraft that can be fabricated and deployed at a moments notice) and we start walking towards the ship when Fel says

"This ship is massive and looks dangerous I can tell it will truly be a threat in space combat." He says looking a bit intimidated at the fact that a ship of this size had been not only built but concealed underground this entire time

"Yeah she is a real power house she has hundreds of gun emplacement and a self replenishing fighter compliment now let's go see she just how bad she scares our new friends in orbit shall we Gideon can you get us into the internal cams?"

Fel gains a predatory grin and says "this should be fun to watch but I will need to stay away from them lest they try and shoot me as I stated earlier we have a bad history so please refrain from mentioning that there are Covenant warriors on the planet still these humans hold us as mortal enemies because of some of the things our more zealous members do under orders from the prophets."

"Okay Fel you have my word I will protect your people to the best of my ability and I did not leave the compound totally defenseless they will be fine for now let's go and get the ship started."

 **POV UNSC Captain Zackary (Mad Hatter) Hatton**

 **UNSC Prowler Cloak and Dagger**

 **Location: in Geosynchronous orbit around planet Harvest**

 **Time: 4 Days 14 Hours 57 Minutes since hard landing**

"Alright so can anyone tell me what happened to Harvest I mean I can tell that someone has moved in and there was a big fight but anyone want to explain how they wiped out two Super Carriers and a Corvette and are still alive?" I say asking my bridge crew

"Well sir there is lingering radiation in both orbit and the atmosphere but it is very small so either that is the cleanest nuke ever made or it was fired years ago and we all know that there were no nukes on Harvest during any of the battles so that explains at least two of the confirmed ship kills and then the have no idea what caused it except it has some massive holes in the main hull." The female Ensign at Ops stated

"So we are possibly sitting above a nuclear arsenal of an unknown group and they are probably still jumpy after the covvies so we need to tread carefully and hope to god we don't spook them and pray that they are not trigger happy." I say calmly

"Um sir all the local buildings have just seemingly disappeared from all scanners and we have a large hole opening in the center of the former base and oh my god sir I think I see a large ship in there lifting off." She states slightly panicky

"Calm down Ensign if they knew we were here and wished to destroy us they would have hit us with a nuke or and EMP to disable us now Ops what can you tell me about the ship once you get a clear reading?" I ask hoping to get as much Intel as possible before the situation turns sour and we have to get out of here

"Sorry sir I am just a little nervous this is my first deployment on a prowler. Now then it's about the same size as one of our repair cradles for ships and it seems about twice as tall I am detected an astronomically powerful generator in it and I see gun emplacements all over the ship so she was designed for war but she seems more like a Carrier then a Dreadnought as I see a large amount of what appear to be hangers all across the surface sir." She states a lot calmer now that I had spoken with her

"Um Sir we have a problem I have a tight beam 3D holo message being tight beamed directly at us and that means they know we are here is now a good time to bug out sir we are not rated for line combat." The male Ensign at Comms states

"No we remain disciplined and ready now open the message on the command console and let's see what we are dealing with." I state hoping to god that this first contact wouldn't involve shooting we had just left Reach on a deep recon run and I decided to stop by Harvest afterwards to pay respects and found this, so I guess here is to hoping that we come out of this alive and healthy

Suddenly a screen pops up and on it a human Male with dark brown hair that was grown slightly out but still within acceptable military standards green eyes the color of a four leaf clover and a rough but angular face with red pulsing lines running across his face appears and then he opens his mouth and says "We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile!" At that everyone on the bridge stops what they are doing and stares dumbly at the holo projector as I sit there and indulge my desire to face palm.

 **This is what the Ashes to Ashes Dust to Dust Stone to Steel and Steel to Rust statement is based from**

 **English modified burial sermon statement from Genesis 3:19 : for as much as it hath pleased Almighty God of his great mercy to take unto himself the soul of our dear brother here departed, we therefore commit his body to the ground; Earth to Earth, Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust in sure and certain hope of the Resurrection to eternal life, through our Lord Jesus Christ; who shall change our vile body, that it may be like unto his glorious body, according to the mighty working, whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself**

 **A/N 2 well that's all for refreshing all the old chapter and having to rewrite and patch the story back together now onwards into the future of the story**

 **A/N well I hope you guys liked the chapter and continue to bear with me during the course of my writing and if anyone out there has any ideas or thought or errors anything really that you want to bring forward my PM box and reviews are always checked as often as I can (again no internet at the house right now) but I love to hear stuff from you guys even if it is hate mail I love seeing that at least someone out there is reading even if they hate every second of it**

 **Point 2 some of you may think that Fel'Fusame warmed up to my guy too fast I simple have this to say the Elites have a Warrior culture and because of this the respect honorable warriors and will be willing to be more merciful when fighting them because one of the reasons of the Great Schism was because the Elites started to respect the Humans will to live and tenacity in a fight and we starting to ask why not bring them into the Covenant instead of destroy them then if you subtract the main stream covenant religion and boom a semi friendly Elite that will wait and see what will happen instead of screaming heretic and trying to destroy you**

 **Now about the Mobile infantry Suit (MIS is a self developed idea to allow for a smaller infantry suit and also for something I have planned) it was made for when a commander needed to exit the ACU but still need to be ready for a fight it is a form fitting suit made out of Ballistic Fiber and metal plates with a shield generator and a Micro Fabricator for small scale construction which means yes it could build a Fatboy but even with a limitless supply of resources it would take months or years to finish so it could build a tier 2 tank in a day or 2 but that would be the last practical option any ways here is a list of stuff attached**

 **1 Collapsible helmet that looks like the Legionary suit helment (Dead Space)**

 **Body Suit with built in shield (Ivan Brackmen's armor)**

 **1 Micro Fabricator (think of it like a Tac-pad object like the Op-Sat from Splinter Cell)**

 **2 Built in wrist blades both arms (going with something like the ARC commando daggers from Star Wars Republic Commando here)**

 **1 Back pack generator that can be taken off and unpacked and will set itself up into a tier 1 generator over time using the Micro Paragon resource generator built in to it which also powers the Micro Fabericator**

 **1 Cybran Laser Rifle (think Fallout 4 except with the Black paint with red Cyber wire running across it in a slimmer more cut down frame)**

 **1 Quantum storage pocket (if it can fit in the opening it can be stored in a pocket dimension each item added needs more power so there is a limit to what it can hold based on size and weight)**

 **Hope that is enough description if not PM me and I might be able to link together some pics for you**


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